South West Trains will be running fewer services through Somerset and Dorset from Saturday (August 5) as major engineering works get under way at London Waterloo railway station.

Platforms 1 to 10 will be closed between August 5 and 28 so they can be extended, allowing longer trains to serve the capital and surrounding areas.

Platforms 11 to 14 will also be shut over the August bank holiday weekend (August 25 to 28), meaning even fewer services will run during this time.

The operator - which is set to hand over the franchise to First MTR during the engineering period - has now published details of how the disruption will affect West Country residents, including amended timetables.

Why is this being done?

London Waterloo is the UK's busiest station, handling nearly 100 million passengers every year - more than the total population of Britain.

Passenger numbers have more than doubled over the last 20 years, to 234 million journeys a year - and more space is needed for future growth.

The upgrade - which will cost more than £800M - will increase capacity by 30 per cent during the busiest periods of the day.

Green stations - everywhere west of Crewkerne, and everywhere north of Frome and Salisbury - will mostly maintain their usual level of service. However, some journeys will take longer and certain service may be more crowded.

Read More

The same number will run during the evening peak - 55 per cent of the normal capacity.

The biggest hit will be to off-peak services, with only seven trains per hour - barely half what the station can normally handle.

What is South West Trains going to do to make things easier for me?

South West Trains has stated: "We are doing everything we can to reduce inconvenience and make your journey as smooth as possible."

Specifically, the company will be:

Running longer trains throughout every day of the engineering works

Working around the clock, attempting to finishing the work ahead of schedule

Temporarily opening platforms 20 to 24 (the former Eurostar terminal) to increase capacity

Providing more than 1,000 extra staff at stations across the network to assist passengers

What should I do?

A South West Trains spokesperson said: "Although the number of passengers travelling in August is lower than other times of the year, passengers should still expect severe disruption, extremely busy trains and queues outside stations.